Talk:AFOH/@comment-14850713-20160218121156
IC: Due to new generation armor being fielded by other powers, AFOH has started to upgrade its tank force. The Manticore MBTs of the heavy armored divisions and the Martel A1 MBTs of the regular divisions (armored, mechanized and infantry) are receiving new power plants, main guns, and armor/protection systems to meet the High Command's new operational requirements, keeping them viable in the years to come. The Manticore is being upgraded to the Manticore A4 standard with an uprated turbine that increases its speed to to the required 85 kph cross-country (with a highway speed of 105 kph) and enables it to mount a new 150 mm rail gun. It's armor and protection suite has been deemed to be still effective against current and emerging threats and so will remain as is. As the tank's size leaves a lot of room for growth, the only noticeable difference from the baseline Manticore is the straight-sided rail gun barrel/shroud. All of the Land Forces' 9,000 Manticores in 30 heavy armored divisions (many of which are based in Southern Africa) are undergoing the enhancements. The Martel A1s are receiving engine upgrades to match the Manticore's speed, and more than half are receiving new turbine power plants as part of conversion to Martel A3 standard. The A3 is armed with a new 127 mm rail gun thus necessitating a more powerful engine, a hull extension (for the larger engine) and an extended turret for the straight-sided gun. As with the Manticore A4, the new rail guns fire a range of projectiles converted from standard rounds, including APFSDS, tandem warhead (APFSDS + high explosive thermobaric) and guided top-attack. Both A1 and A3 variants are fitted with the new Protektor II active protection system (APS) which replaces the short-range iron "shotgun" pellets with tandem (tungsten + shaped-charge) projectiles that are effective against both rail gun rounds and lasers. The A3 also uses non-energy reactive armor (NERA) plates for its side skirts and on crucial areas of the hull and turret. All regular armored divisions are transitioning to the A3 together with 1 combined-arms battalion in each mechanized and infantry brigade giving these units improved anti-armor capabilities. The regular divisions (31 armored, 70 mechanized, 71 infantry) will thus be equipped with 21,650 Martel A3s and 19,050 improved Martel A1s. Despite the Manticore and Martel upgrades, the High Command was still sufficiently concerned about the performance of Axis hover tanks to commission a new super-heavy tank which will equip the newly-formed independent Armored Cavalry Brigades (ACB). Due to the expensive maintenance requirements of hover tanks and the perceived difficulty of recovering damaged units in the field, it was decided to use a conventional tracked design to fulfill the requirements of extreme mobility, massive firepower and heavy armor protection. Weight and size were minor considerations, and with the choice of the Excalibur fighter's fusion power plant, the AFOH designers decided to build around this large and powerful engine. The resulting tank, the Ardant A5 is 50% bigger than Manticore, is armed with a 150 mm rail gun that fires at a much higher velocity due to the fusion engine, and is equipped with an advanced armor suite composed of NERA blocks over a tungsten and depleted uranium composite. The APS is composed of direct energy reactive armor (DERA) combined with a more extensive Protektor II. Despite its size, its height is the same as the Manticore due to its fully automated turret and sophisticated suspension system. The latter is based on the Christie suspension. To enable this to work on such a large vehicle, the bottom of the hull is lined with AFOH-developed Cavorite™ panels which have anti-gravity properties. Activating panels makes the tank virtually float on its suspension, allowing it to attain speeds of up to 100 kph cross-country (because the panels are covered by the armored floor, the vehicle cannot lift off the ground). More importantly, it can remain mobile even when up to 3 of its 9 bogeys (2 adjacent) on either side are destroyed as the wide horizontal play of each wheel with assistance by the Cavorite™ redistributes the weight among the remaining bogeys. Some 1,350 Ardants are slated to equip 9 ACBs as the prohibitive cost makes them the Land Forces' equivalent of the Dark Wolf fighter.